


The Chalet School Annex

by mrsredboots



Category: Chalet School - Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-31
Updated: 2015-12-31
Packaged: 2018-05-10 18:37:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 11,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5596573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrsredboots/pseuds/mrsredboots
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is an account of the first term of the Annex - it parallels (and I hope does not contradict) "Exploits of the Chalet Girls".</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“I do hope I can do this!” sighed Juliet Carrick, looking out of the window of the Salon at Die Rosen, the pretty chalet on the Sonnalpe where she made her home.

Grizel Cochrane, her friend and future colleague at the Chalet School Annexe agreed. “I’m scared, Ju – what if we make a total mess of it?”

“Of course you won’t make a mess,” exclaimed the third person in the room, Madge Russell, the owner and first headmistress of the Chalet School, which she had founded some five years earlier on the shores of the Tiernsee, far below. Now an Annexe was to be opened up on the Sonnalpe, where delicate girls could be educated close to the talented doctors who served at the great Sanatorium there, battling the white plague that took so many lives. Juliet and Grizel, both former Head Girls of the Chalet School, and now returned from further education, were to staff the Annexe, and term was due to open the next day.

“Why do you think you will make a mess?” continued Madge. “I was just as inexperienced as you are when I opened the school proper, but I managed very happily, and so will you! All the girls are going to be under 12, except for Marie-Pierre and Anne-Christine Bouvier, and they are only 12 and 13. It’s not as if you had any Middles to deal with. Anyway, I shall be there in the mornings, this term anyway, and you’ll be fine!”

“But weren’t you nervous when you first started, Madge” asked Grizel, with a reminiscent grin. She had been one of the first pupils of the Chalet School, and well remembered the first trip to the Tiernsee with the then Madge Bettany and her younger sister, Joey.

“You know I was, Grizel, and I do see that it’s normal for you to be, too. But then, I had you and Juliet to deal with.....”

The three young women laughed reminiscently. “But don’t you see, Madge,” explained Juliet, earnestly, “that just makes it harder. You had to deal with me and Grizel – and goodness knows, we were far from model pupils – and we only have babies. What if we can’t handle them?”

“Now, come on,” exclaimed Madge. “You were both excellent head girls in your day, more than capable of quashing the most hardened sinners. Of course you’ll be able to handle them!”

Juliet and Grizel appeared far from convinced, but at that moment the Robin and Joey came into the room, so they had, perforce, to change the conversation.

Cecilia Marya Humphries, universally known as the Robin, was nine years old, with a mop of curly dark hair and laughing eyes. She was tall for her age, but rather thin, and was to be a pupil at the Annexe, as she was rather frail and it was only a few weeks since the doctors had been able to confirm that she had not, as yet, succumbed to the dreadful disease that had cut short her Polish mother’s life. But with a regime of fresh air, lots of sleep and plenty of good, rich milk, the doctors were hopeful that she would outgrow her delicacy and become as strong as anybody else in due course. However, she was to stay at the Annexe until her growing years were over, and had been appointed one of the prefects there, along with her friends Amy Stephens and Signa Johansen, who were also accustomed to Chalet School ways.

Jo Bettany was now seventeen years old, and about to start her second term as Head Girl of the Chalet School. She was slightly built, with black eyes shining out of a pale pointed face, which looked the paler for the straight black hair that was still short, although she was beginning to think of growing it. Once nearly as frail as the Robin, she had largely outgrown this in the clear, life-giving air of the Tirol, although she had been very tired at the end of the previous term, and, unbeknown to her, Madge and her husband, James Russell, the Head of the Sanatorium, had discussed very seriously whether she should spend her final school year at the Annexe. However, Juliet and Grizel had flatly refused to consider the idea, given that she was so near to them in age, and counted them, as they counted her, among her closest friends. So Jo was looking forward to going down to Briesau, where the school was, the following morning.

“Hullo, girls,” exclaimed Madge. “Are the babies all in bed?” The nursery at the Sonnalpe consisted of her own small son, David, and her nephew and niece, Peggy and Rix Bettany, twins of three years old, who made their home with their aunt while their parents were in the harsh climate of India.

“Yes, and they’re waiting for you to go and say goodnight,” said Joey. “Rix was so funny, he really can’t understand why he is not allowed to go to school with us, and kept saying ‘But I’m a Big Boy now!’”

“Poor Rix,” said Madge, getting up to go to the nursery. “I’ll start him on his letters next week, I think, which will give him something fresh to think about! Robin, only ten minutes, dear, before you must go up to bed. I expect Joey will sing to you, as it’s the last evening, won’t you, Jo?”

“Yes, of course I will,” said Joey.


	2. Chapter 2

The following morning, Juliet, Grizel and the Robin set off together to walk the short distance to the Annexe. Their big cases had been taken over and unpacked the previous day, so they just had their overnight cases.

“Please, Juliet, what time are the others arriving?” asked the Robin.

“Not until this afternoon,” said Juliet. “Most people are coming with the rest of the school on the train, only the Annexe people will stay on the train to Wiesing, and then come up the new coach road in a charabanc. So they should get here around sixteen, I think, and we’ve asked the Bouvier sisters to come then, too, as they don’t know about school so they can’t help us get ready the way you can!” She smiled down at the younger girl.

“I see, thank you Juliet – no, I mean, thank you Miss Carrick, as we’re past the half-way mark now,” said the Robin.

“You don’t need to say Miss Carrick until we’re actually at school,” said Juliet, with a smile.

“No, but you see that tree, it marks the half-way point between Die Rosen and the Annexe, so you are Juliet and Grizel – and Tante Guito – on that side of it, and Miss Carrick and Miss Cochrane and Madame on this side of it,” explained the Robin, rather earnestly.

“Good scheme, kiddo!” said Grizel, with a laugh, and Juliet agreed that it was.

The Annexe was not far from Die Rosen, and had been built the previous term for the purpose. The big chalet had room for forty girls and four or five mistresses, but for this term, at any rate, there were only to be 22 girls, and just the two mistresses, plus a cook and a couple of maids. There were three big classrooms on the ground floor, one of which doubled as a common-room, as well as a hall and a dining-room, and two music rooms, plus the kitchen area, with quarters for the domestic staff.

The upper floors contained the dormitories, the staff bedrooms and a pretty sitting-room for the staff, which Juliet and Grizel had spent a very pleasant couple of days decorating to their taste. Juliet, as headmistress, also had a small study.

The chalet was surrounded by a big verandah, with a matching balcony on the upper story, and it was hoped that the girls could spend a great deal of their time out there, until the cold weather came. The balcony was roofed over, and the girls would be sleeping out there as long as the good weather lasted, so the dormitories looked rather empty, with only chests and chairs in them. But Dr Jem said that the more the girls were in the open air, the better, and while it was mild, sleeping, and resting, on the balcony was the order of the day. Grizel and Juliet had also taken their beds on to the balcony, and could confirm that sleeping there was most refreshing.

The day passed very quickly with the final arrangements and setting-up being made. Robin helped check the stationery cupboard, which was to be her responsibility when term started, and made sure she knew where everything was.

Then suddenly, it was four o’clock, or sixteen, in Middle European terms, and the big charabanc drew up outside the door, and an excited crowd of little girls climbed out. The two French girls, whose mother was seriously ill at the Sanatorium, also arrived from the hotel where they had been staying, and by quarter past sixteen, the school had assembled.

The first order of the day was a glass of milk and a bread twist for everybody, and when this had been taken, the girls were shown to their dormitories to unpack. The big trunks and cases had been sent in advance, and the girls who were accustomed to the régime at the Chalet knew exactly where everything should go, and were able to help those to whom everything was new.

At eighteen, everybody assembled downstairs, and the Catholics and Protestants separated for Prayers. As both Miss Carrick and Miss Cochrane were Protestant, it had been arranged that Frau Mensch, the wife of one of the doctors at the Sanatorium, and herself an Old Girl of the school, would take prayers for the Catholic girls, and also attend to their Scripture lessons. Miss Carrick attended to that duty for the Protestant girls.

Prayers over, the two halves of the school reassembled, and Miss Carrick welcomed them all to the Annexe. “This is a new venture for us, and while some of you know us already, for some of you it’s all new. I hope you will settle down very quickly, all of you, and enjoy your term.”

Supper, or Abendessen as it was called, followed, and then bed was the order of the day for everybody.


	3. Chapter 3

Over the next few days, the Annexe began to settle into a routine. The rising bell rang at 6:45, and Frühstück was at 7:30. After Frühstück, if it was fine, they put on hats and coats and went out for a brisk walk. The Sonnalpe was fairly small, and the girls could walk right round in half an hour, and there was little variation, other than which way round they went. But Dr Jem had decreed that this walk must happen, if at all possible, and so it was taken every day. When they came back, they had Prayers, and then lessons until 12:30. Lunch, or Mittagessen, came next, followed by a long rest on their beds. At 2:30, they got up, and the afternoon was filled with games, painting, singing, handicrafts or folk-dancing, before Kaffee und Kuchen at 4:00. The school still called it Kaffee und Kuchen, although in practice, they drank warm milk, into which they might stir a little cocoa powder if they wished. Half an hour’s prep followed, and then they were free to play until Abendessen at 18:45 and by 20:00 everybody was tucked up in bed and, Grizel fervently hoped, asleep until the next morning.

The Robin soon settled down. She would have liked to have gone back to the main school, but had learnt not to fret for what couldn’t be helped, and she enjoyed the small amount of responsibility that being a prefect at the Annexe entailed. Peggy Burnett, Irma von Rothenfels and Amy Stephens were her closest friends and, together with Signa, they formed quite a power in the land.

Juliet and Grizel, or Miss Carrick and Miss Cochrane as their pupils called them – to their faces, at any rate – also settled down. Although neither of them was an experienced teacher, they found that, true to Madame’s prophecy, they had no trouble either in keeping order nor in maintaining their pupils’ interests. Juliet’s speciality was maths, and Grizel had studied music, which she taught efficiently, if rather joylessly, but her main love was the games and dancing that they all enjoyed in the afternoons. The other subjects they shared among themselves, and with Mrs Russell who came over every morning to help, although she had already told Juliet that she was not prepared to commit herself for longer than that term. Frau Mensch came in one afternoon a week to supervise their needlework, as well as taking prayers for the Catholic girls, and every Friday, one of the staff from the Chalet School proper came up to spend the weekend at the Annexe, giving either Juliet or Grizel a free weekend.

When possible, the Robin went home to Die Rosen at the weekends, since her father, who was Dr Jem’s secretary at the Sanatorium, liked to have her with him. He had had to leave her at the Chalet School for a year when she had been very little, and he had missed her badly, since she was the only reminder left to him of his pretty Polish wife. He would come and fetch her before Mittagessen on Saturday, and bring her back to the Annexe in time for Prayers on Monday mornings.

Saturday mornings at both branches of the Chalet School were devoted to mending and letter-writing. As the Robin lived so near, she had no home-letters to write, so was allowed to go and play once she had finished her mending. Marie-Pierre and Anne-Christine Bouvier were usually among the first to join her, as their mother was in the Sanatorium and they usually went to see her, when she was well enough, on a Saturday afternoon.

On one Saturday fairly near the beginning of term, however, Marie-Pierre and Anne-Christine came into the common-room looking very subdued, and not far off tears. “But what, then, is wrong?” exclaimed the Robin, in the fluent French she had spoken from babyhood.

“There was a telephone message for us, saying that Maman isn’t very well today and we are not to go and see her!” explained Marie-Pierre, and Anne-Christine succumbed to the tears that had obviously been threatening.

More than one girl at the Chalet School had discovered before now that the Robin was a wonderful comforter when you were in trouble. She ran round to Anne-Christine and put an arm round her.

“Ma pauvre!” she exclaimed. “I am so sorry for you. Did they say what was wrong with your Maman?”

“I don’t think so,” said Marie-Pierre, “but really, I didn’t understand very well, only that she was not very well and we were not to go today. It was Miss Cochrane, and she was speaking in English.”

“Yes,” said the Robin, “She can talk very fast. But I will ask Dr Jem or whoever comes to fetch me later, and they will know, and be able to explain. And we can ask le bon Dieu to make your maman better, I think.”

“Yes, we could do that. Maybe we should go and say our rosary for her?” suggested Anne-Christine.

“Yes, let’s,” said the Robin. “I will join you and we will say it together, so that there are three of us, not just two. Come on!” And she led the way up to the big dormitory they shared.

Unfortunately, in her enthusiasm she had forgotten, and it’s doubtful whether Anne-Christine and Marie-Pierre had ever known, that the dormitories were strictly out of bounds during the day, except for rest hours. No sooner had they reached their cubicles and opened their drawers to find their rosaries, than Miss Cochrane, who was on duty that weekend, stormed in.

“What are you children doing up here?” she asked, sounding rather annoyed.

“Please Griz – Miss Cochrane, sorry – we were just finding our rosaries so that we could pray for their mother, because she isn’t very well,” explained the Robin, in her earnestness nearly forgetting to use the formal title.

There was a certain hardness in Grizel Cochrane’s character that even her years at the Chalet School had done little to eradicate. She had no idea of being unkind to the Bouvier girls, or, indeed to the Robin, of whom she was very fond, but she found it difficult to grasp the idea of why they were there.

“Nevertheless, there’s no excuse for you to be up here at this time of day. Please take an order mark apiece, and go downstairs. Robin, I think I saw your father coming to fetch you, so please get your coat and hat.”

The three girls had to perforce go downstairs, but Robin pulled the two girls into the splashery and said, quietly, “Come and we’ll ask my papa if he knows how your maman is. And we can still pray – and while I’m at home I will think about where we can meet to say our rosaries together!”

Captain Humphries tried his best to be reassuring to Marie-Pierre and Anne-Christine, but the truth was that Madame Bouvier had taken a definite, but unexpected, turn for the worse the previous evening. Her doctors were hopeful that this was caused by nothing more serious than a cold in her head, and would pass, but for now, there was a slight but definite cause for concern for her, and they felt she would be better kept very quiet for a day or so.


	4. Chapter 4

Unusually, the Robin couldn’t sleep. She had promised Anne-Christine and Marie-Pierre that she would think of a place where they could get together and say their Rosaries for Mme Bouvier, but she couldn’t think of anywhere. They were not allowed in the dormitories during the day, and she had a feeling that they would not be allowed in the splasheries for more than the necessary length of time, either. The common-rooms and form-rooms were always busy, and not everybody was Catholic, and you couldn’t ask Protestant girls to be quiet while the Catholic ones said the Rosary. If only Jo were here; she would know what to do. Or if only it had been Juliet on duty, not Grizel. Juliet might have been more sympathetic. So the Robin tossed and turned and fretted and grew hotter, and when she finally dropped off to sleep it was to nightmares of large rosaries chasing her round the Sonnalpe shouting “Pray me, pray me!”

It was not, therefore, too surprising that when she woke in the morning she had a high temperature and was inclined to be a bit “wandery”. Dr Jem Russell was on the spot, and administered a cooling mixture at once, but the Robin was a frail little mortal, and any illness could be serious for her.

“I think she is worrying about something,” he said to his wife. “I don’t know, can you try to find out what it is? I really don’t like this temperature, but she doesn’t seem to be unwell apart from that.”

Madge went in to see the Robin after breakfast, but found that she had drowsed off again. Madge fetched her embroidery and sat by the Robin’s bed, thankful that Joey was not visiting this weekend, and hoping devoutly that news of this setback could be kept from her. Jo adored the Robin, and was apt to fret very badly if she thought there was cause to worry. Madge herself was not worried yet, but she was concerned.

About 10:00 the Robin suddenly started up in bed, crying out “But I promised, I promised!”

“What did you promise, mein vögelein?” asked Madge, hoping that the girl would come to herself and know her.

“To find a place, but there isn’t a place!” exclaimed the Robin, causing Madge to wonder whether the child was still delirious.

“Now, Robin,” she said, firmly but gently, “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me properly what the problem is. Sit up, dear, and have a drink of water, and then see if you can tell me.”

Thus urged, the Robin did as she was told, and finally managed to explain to Madge that the three girls were looking for a place to say their rosaries with intent for Madame Bouvier.

“But why didn’t you ask Miss Cochrane?” asked Madge. “I’m sure she would have found you somewhere to go.”

“Yes, but she was cross because we were in the dormitory when we shouldn’t have been, and she gave us an order mark and told us to go downstairs before we could ask.”

Madge sighed, inwardly. This was so typical of Grizel, yet she was on balance shaping up to become an excellent teacher. On the other hand, she didn’t always take time and trouble to put herself in other people’s shoes, so she would probably never be more than average as a house mistress. And it was certainly no part of Madge’s philosophy to disparage her before any of her pupils.

“Well, you shouldn’t have been in the dormitory just then, of course, so she had every right to be cross. But I’m sure something can be worked out; we’ll ask Juliet when she comes back from her weekend. In the meantime, we’ll get Oncle Jem to go and tell Marie-Pierre and Anne-Christine how their mother is. She’s going to be all right, but she has a cold this weekend, and the doctors want her kept quiet.

“As for you, missie, how about some milk, and then, perhaps, another little sleep?”

The Robin obediently drank her milk, and settled down to sleep. After her troubled night, she slept peacefully, and did not rouse up again until nearly time for Kaffee und Kuchen. When she did rouse up, her temperature was down, and she looked herself again. Nevertheless, Jem kept her in bed for another day, and at home for the rest of the week, so it wasn’t until the following Monday that she returned to school, heartened by the news that Madame Bouvier had been well enough for her daughters to visit her on the Saturday, and knowing that, if she wanted to say the rosary with Anne-Christine and Marie-Pierre, or with anyone else, for that matter, she could ask Juliet and a space would be found for them.


	5. Chapter 5

The Robin was greeted warmly on all sides when she returned to school. “Are you all right again?” “Comme tu nous a manquée!” “Du bist züruck! Toll!” and similar comments were flying from all sides, and Miss Carrick had to clap her hands sharply and remind them that, as it was a Monday morning, they should all be speaking French. She smiled at Robin, and welcomed her back among them.

The morning passed off peacefully. The weather was still very mild, so lessons took place on the verandah, the girls needing no more than a blazer on top of the tunics and shantung blouses that were the school uniform. After Mittagessen, the girls went upstairs, as was usual, and took off their tunics and blazers, and got into bed for the long rest that was considered an essential part of the régime.

It so happened that this was the part of the day that Amy Stephens disliked the most. She quite enjoyed being at the Annexe, although she missed her sister, Margia, who was at the main school, and was looking forward to seeing her when half-term came. And she had no objection to a short rest after lunch – at the Chalet proper, you were required to rest for half an hour, but you could read, or even talk quietly, if you wished. Both of these activities were forbidden at the Annexe, and you were supposed to sleep if you could. Robin usually slept, as did Signa, but Amy seldom could, and found she was very bored.

Amy rather enjoyed making up poems, some of which were significantly better than those of other girls her age, and very often she would pass the time thinking up a new verse, which she would then write down during Prep, but today, her Muse appeared to have abandoned her. She was bored, and wished she could read. Not that she had a book with her, in any event. She turned over, trying to see whether either Miss Carrick or Miss Cochrane were lying on their beds, as they sometimes did during the rest period. If they were, she had no hope of being able to read, even if she had a book. And yes, Miss Carrick was there. Why wasn’t her bed round the other side, like the Robin’s and Peggy’s?

If only she wasn’t Miss Carrick – when she was Juliet, you could talk to her, but when she was Miss Carrick, you couldn’t really. Amy had been at the school since its first term, and knew both Juliet and Grizel, who had also been at the school since the beginning, well. But when they were being Miss Carrick and Miss Cochrane, you couldn’t chat to them the way you could when they were Juliet and Grizel, and you couldn’t moan about having to rest.

Mind you, there was the time, that first term, that Juliet and Grizel had been supposed to be resting, but had gone off into Briesau or somewhere. Amy had never been told exactly what had happened that day, but the two of them had been in big trouble when they got back. Then something happened to Juliet’s parents, or something, and she had started to be good and kind, helping Amy with her bath – Amy had been very small then, and not good at managing by herself – and things like that. But Grizel had got into all kinds of trouble for vaselining the blackboards and then cheeking Madame about it, and then she’d gone up the Tiernjoch all by herself, even though she’d been told it was dangerous, and Joey had gone after her and they’d both been ill afterwards.

Amy didn’t want to be ill; on the other hand, she was bored with resting. Her first thought was to put the little plan that had come to her into immediate practice, but then common-sense took over. She had no watch, and no way of knowing how nearly it was time to get up. Tomorrow would do. She rolled over to think about it in more comfort, and caught Irma’s eye. Irma, too, was awake.

“I’m bored!” Amy mouthed at her.

“Me too,” Irma mouthed back.

“What time is it?” mouthed Amy, pointing at her wrist to show what she meant. Irma, she knew, had a watch. Irma stretched out her arm, so Amy could see that it was ten to two, or ten to fourteen as she thought of it. Nearly three-quarters of an hour until getting-up time. It was not to be borne!

Very slowly and quietly, Amy slipped off her bed on to the floor, careful not to let her head rise up above the level of the bed, in case Miss Carrick should see her, and crawled on hands and knees into the dormitory, where she grabbed her tunic and shoes and, still in her stockinged feet, tiptoed downstairs to the common-room. A noise behind her caused her to look round, and there was Irma, who had followed her. Stifling their giggles, the girls dressed quickly and, grabbing their books, curled up in the big armchairs to read.

 

It wasn’t until the bell rang that they realised the flaw in this plan – they were downstairs, not upstairs shaking out their plumeaux and remaking their beds. If their beds remained unmade, someone would be sure to notice, whereas if they ran upstairs to make them, someone might notice them coming upstairs.

It’s possible that if they had run straight upstairs, they would have got away with it, but “he who hesitates is lost”, as the saying goes, and, sure enough, they ran straight into Miss Carrick, who was coming to look for them.

“You naughty little girls!” she exclaimed. “Where have you been?”

Both girls were rendered tongue-tied, with vivid memories of Juliet as head-girl, never mind Miss Carrick as headmistress. After a few moments, she realised she wasn’t going to get an answer right then, and sent them off to make their beds and join the others, with orders to report to her study before Kaffee und Kuchen.


	6. Chapter 6

It was needlework that afternoon, and Gisela Mensch allowed them to talk quietly so long as they got on with their work.

“What are we going to say?” asked Amy, worriedly.

“We’ll tell her the truth, that we were bored. I don’t see what else we can say.”

“We’ll get into trouble!”

“I think we are already that,” commented Irma, wryly. “We shouldn’t have got out of bed. Still, I’m not sorry we did.”

“No, nor am I,” said Amy. “I was so bored! But will she listen if we say we were bored? She might have when she was Head Girl, but now she’s Headmistress?”

“Maybe we should take her to Robin’s half-way tree, so she can be Juliet again,” said Irma, thoughtfully, “but I do not know how we could get her to go there.”

At which point, Frau Mensch intervened, since neither girl was sewing. “What is the matter, girls? Why are you not getting on with your work?”

Amy and Irma looked at each other, and Amy finally decided to confide in Frau Mensch. After all, this was Gisela, the first Head Girl the school had ever had, and however much she might be married with a baby daughter, she was still smiling at them in the old way.

“We were naughty,” she said. “We were really bored during rest hours, so we got out of bed and went downstairs to read in the common-room.”

“And so you had your fun, and are not looking forward to paying for it?” asked Gisela, with a smile. “Really, Amy....”

“It’s not that – well, yes, it is of course, but only a bit. Only it’s that the rest hours are so very boring, because they go on so long, and we want to say this to Miss Carrick only it’s difficult. Because it sounds like we’re criticising and it sounds like we’re making excuses.” And Amy heaved a very deep sigh, and looked up at Gisela.

“I wouldn’t worry too much,” said Gisela, “because you know Miss Carrick is always very fair. Now you must get on with your work, please.”

The girls obeyed, but it is safe to say that they did very little embroidery that afternoon, and Amy found later that she had made such a muddle of the counted cross-stitch bookmark she was making that she had to unpick almost all of what she had done.

Juliet, meanwhile, had rung up Die Rosen.

“I don’t quite know what to do, Madge,” she explained. “Can I pick your brains?”

Madge laughed. “I’m quite sure,” she said cheerfully, “that Miss Annersley would point out that you certainly can, the question is, may you!”

“Yes, well, never mind that now,” said Juliet. “The point is, two of the girls – and never mind who, just now – got out of bed during their rest hours and went downstairs to read. That part of it, of course, I can and will deal with myself later on, but the trouble is, I rather think they were bored silly, and I’m inclined to sympathise. An hour and a half is an awful long time to just lie there if they can’t sleep, and many of them don’t sleep. And then they fidget and are restless, and I don’t think it does them very much good. Of course, some of them do need to sleep – the Robin, for one, and Signa is always fast asleep if I do the rounds, and one or two of the smaller ones.”

“Well,” said Madge, “Jem is convinced they do need the rest.”

“I think they do,” said Juliet, “but the trouble is, they’re not getting it. I want to let them read if they aren’t asleep after half an hour – lying down for half an hour is reasonable, I think. I’m a bit concerned, though, lest Jem think it’s a bad idea.”

“Hmmm,” Madge thought for a few minutes. “The thing is, you’re the Head, and being on the spot, you can see what is happening; on the other hand, you don’t want to go against your medical advisers, is that it?”

“Pretty much! I also don’t want to look as if I’m rewarding my two troublemakers, either, but I expect I can manage that.”

“They’re still sleeping out on the balconies, I take it?”

“Yes, it’s so mild still. I wonder when the weather will break – we’re well into October now, and yet it’s almost as warm as the summer.”

“Well, I should let them read if they really can’t sleep; only they must wrap a blanket around themselves, and be sure not to get cold. I’ll deal with Jem.”

“Thanks, Madge, I hoped you’d say that!”

When the bell rang, Amy and Irma tidied themselves quickly, and then presented themselves, quaking somewhat, at the study door. Juliet, every inch Miss Carrick the Headmistress, told them to come in.

“And what, exactly, do you think you were doing this afternoon?” she enquired, icily.

“Please, we were bored,” quavered Irma, not actually far from tears.

“I see. So you decided that being bored was enough excuse to take the law into your own hands, and break a strict rule?”

Both girls looked at the floor. Then Amy, taking her courage in both hands, looked up. “Please, I’m sorry we broke the rules, but I’m honestly not sorry we did it. We were so very bored and restless, and we’re supposed to be resting, but you can’t rest when you get all fidgety.”

“So you think you know better than Dr Jem, do you?” enquired Juliet, icily, and Amy subsided.

The silence drew out for some time; finally, Juliet took pity on them.

“Look, I do see that you were bored and restless, but why didn’t you come and talk to me about it, instead of just rushing in and doing your own thing? Then we could have sorted something out, and you wouldn’t be in trouble.”

“I – I suppose we didn’t think,” muttered Irma.

“Then, isn’t it time you learnt to think, Irma? You are twelve years old now, not a baby any more.”

“But please,” said Amy, “it’s not easy now that you are our Headmistress; it’s not like it was when we were younger and you were Head Girl, or before then when you were a senior.”

Juliet hadn’t thought of that one, and was a little taken aback. “Does it feel like that? But Amy, I’m still me, you know. Just because you call me Miss Carrick now doesn’t really make me a different person, I promise you!”

Amy looked so dubious that Juliet was very hard put to it not to laugh. But she controlled herself with an effort, and continued: “Anyway, be that as it may, another time you must come and talk to me, not take matters into your own hands as you did. That was wrong, and I think that, because you got up half an hour earlier than you were supposed to, you must go to bed half an hour early for three nights – tonight, tomorrow and Wednesday. Do you think that’s fair?”

“Yes, Miss Carrick,” they both muttered. And then Irma’s conscience forced her to admit, “But actually it was nearly three-quarters of an hour. Ought we to go to bed three-quarters of an hour early?”

“No, half an hour will do – but I am pleased you were so honest about it. Good. That’s settled, then. And you don’t deserve it, but I think we can come to a compromise about the rest hours – you know what a compromise is, don’t you?”

“It’s a solution that nobody likes?” ventured Amy, with a sudden memory of something her journalist father had once said.

Juliet did laugh at that. “Hardly,” she said. “More likely a solution that everybody likes! I hope it will be in this case, anyway. What the rule is going to be is that you have to lie down quietly for half an hour, and go to sleep if you possibly can. But if you can’t, after half an hour you may sit up, wrap a blanket round you, and read for the remainder of the rest period.”

“That sounds good,” said Irma.

“It does, yes,” said Amy. “But please, I don’t have a watch yet, and I’m not the only one – how will we know when it’s half an hour?”

“Either Miss Cochrane or I will walk round when it’s time. I think you’ll find it will work out. Now, off you go and get your Kaffee, please.”


	7. Chapter 7

Juliet’s compromise worked well, and even after two days, it was obvious that the girls were benefiting from being able to read during their rest periods. Paradoxically, they looked more rested, rather than less.

The weather continued fine and hot, and the girls spent most of their time in the open air. “When the winter does come,” said Grizel, “It’s going to be really bad, don’t you think?”

“I shouldn’t be surprised,” said Juliet. “The berries have been wonderful, and that often denotes a hard winter.”

“I gather they’re stopping the train next week, though,” said Grizel. “Means whoever’s coming up on Friday is going to have to walk down to Spärtz, unless they come up the footpath, so it will take longer. Don’t know what will happen when the bad weather really comes.”

“I expect they’ll work something out. Meanwhile, what are we going to do with them over half-term?”

Half-term was rapidly approaching. It had been arranged that most of the Chalet School proper would come up to the Sonnalpe, as many of the girls had yet to see the Annexe, and not a few had sisters there. The Robin would be going to Die Rosen, to spend the time with her beloved Jo, but had begged to be allowed to stay at the Annexe until the others came, to help show them round. Excitement was building all round, and Juliet and Grizel knew that they must keep everybody occupied and working hard, or there would be tears before too long.

Fortunately, a message came from Die Rosen that Stacie Benson, the editor of the school magazine, _The Chaletian_ , wanted the Annexe’s contributions as soon as possible. Stacie was living at Die Rosen as she was recovering from a bad accident two terms earlier. It had been hoped that she would come to the Annexe for a couple of hours or so each day, but she was at that irritating stage of recovery where she was fairly well as long as she didn’t try to do anything, but as soon as she did more than rest in her inclined chair, the pain in her back flared up again. So mornings at the Annexe had been very few and far between.

Madge and Juliet had discussed the possibility of the Annexe’s having its own magazine, but had decided that this probably wouldn’t work out, and it was agreed that they would have their own section in the main magazine, alongside the Senior, Junior and Middle sections. So the girls were set to writing stories, poems, legends, or anything that took their fancy. Everybody, from Amy down to little Margaret Browne, the youngest girl at the Annexe, worked very hard to produce something that they hoped Stacie would accept. And Madame had told them, too, that they hoped the Annexe would be able to have their own stall at the Sale of Work to be held the next term, so everybody was busy making little things in their spare time – bookmarks, mostly, either fabric with embroidery or card with pretty pictures on them.

The half-term Friday came at last. Miss Cochrane wasn’t in that morning – she had a music lesson with Herr Anserl at his home in Spärtz, something that only happened every few weeks since it took most of the day to get there and back. And, much as everybody adored “Vater Bär” when he wasn’t teaching, he was a very hard taskmaster when he was. Although she had profited enormously from her year in Florence, Miss Cochrane was not particularly musical, and knew that she made a better teacher than pupil.

As almost all the Chalet staff were coming up with the girls later that day, this left Miss Carrick on her own with 22 over-excited little girls. Sensibly, she avoided all pretence of formal work that morning, but gave them a “stand-up quiz”. The girls lined up in age order, from Marie-Pierre Bouvier down to little Margaret Browne, and answered questions on a random variety of topics, from mental arithmetic to translating words between different languages and encompassing most subjects in between. If you answered your question correctly, you changed places with the girl above you; if you got it wrong, you changed with the one below you. Everybody enjoyed this, especially as Miss Carrick was kind and didn’t insist on everybody speaking German – although almost all the questions were posed in that language.

After break, which she extended to half an hour from the usual 10 minutes, there was half an hour’s folk-dancing in the garden – the sun was shining and it was a very warm day - and then she gathered them together to read to them until Mittagessen. And, after their rest, the party from the Chalet arrived, comprising most of the Juniors and those older girls with sisters at the Annexe. Old friends greeted one another rapturously, new friends were introduced, and the noise level rose considerably. Miss Carrick shooed everybody out on the verandah, and gave formal permission to relax the language regulations as it was technically half-term. Amy Stephens, Irma von Rothenfels, Renée Lecoutier and Gredel Hamel were delighted to greet their older sisters, and bore them off to quiet corners to catch up on all the news from home.

After Kaffee, Miss Cochrane arrived back from her music-lesson, rather tired and not in the best of moods, and very soon after that Jo Bettany and a group of Senior girls arrived to pick up the Robin and to be shown round the Annexe, which many of them had not yet seen. Finally the party for Die Rosen left, and the visitors were taken to the hotel, where they were sleeping, and calm descended on the Annexe again.

But not for long. It had been a very hot day, improbably hot for the beginning of November, but with the sunset, the clouds had come up. And while everybody was in the big common-room, playing or reading before Abendessen, the storm broke with a resounding crash of thunder.

Many of the more highly-strung girls jumped and shrieked, and Miss Carrick and Miss Cochrane were hard put to it to calm them, and remind them that there was nothing to fear. Finally, however, everybody was calm enough to sit out on the verandah and enjoy the spectacle that Nature was providing, although one or two still rather obviously hated it.

“I wonder whether we ought to bring the beds inside,” said Miss Carrick.

“Oh no, please not!” came one or two voices, while others said, “Oh, please let’s!”

“All right, let’s vote on it,” said Miss Carrick. “How many of you would like to sleep outside tonight – it will probably be the last night, as I think it is going to get too cold after this?”

Roughly half the girls wanted to sleep outside, storm or no storm, so Miss Carrick decided that they might do so, on condition they took an extra blanket with them and a coat, in case the temperature dropped in the night. Putting the other beds inside helped bridge the rest of the time until Abendessen, after which everybody gradually got themselves ready for bed.

The storm continued until the small hours of the morning, but drifted far enough away not to disturb people’s sleep. When Juliet woke up at 5:00 am, it was because she was cold. She sat up to pull her extra blanket up, and realised that the rain had turned to hail and that the temperature was hovering around freezing.

With a sigh, she heaved herself out of bed, and pulled on her coat and slippers.

“What is it, Ju?” came a sleepy voice from Grizel’s bed.

“Hail, and it’s really cold!” Juliet answered, using the very quiet voice that she had learnt carried far less than a whisper. “I’m going to see if they’re warm enough.”

“Ought we to push them indoors, do you think?”

“Yes, I think so. They’ll be all right if they aren’t too cold, but we don’t know how cold it’s going to get. Better safe than sorry, don’t you think.”

“I suppose so.” Grizel got out of bed, and pulled her coat round her. “What a life we do lead!”

Several of the girls were awake and feeling cold, and Juliet told them to get up, put their coats on, and help to push their beds in through the open French windows into the dormitories. The girls who slept through it were pushed in as they slept, and their extra blankets were unfolded and spread over them.

Juliet slipped downstairs once almost all the beds were in, and heated up mugs of hot milk for anybody who was awake, including herself and Grizel, and left a note to the domestic staff saying bells would not be rung the next morning, and would they please light the stoves in the downstairs rooms.


	8. Chapter 8

When they woke, quite late, in the morning, it was to a transformed world. The hail had become snow around 8:00 and outside could be seen nothing but a wild dervish dance of snowflakes. The wind was howling eerily round the house and the garden was already being buried under a mantle of snow.

Madame rang up from Die Rosen to say that the weather was far too wild for the Annexe people to join everybody else at the big chalet, as they had hoped, and they would have to amuse themselves as best they could.

Juliet sighed. “I suppose you’re right, but what on earth am I going to do with them? I’m going to have one or two very disappointed children.”

“I’m getting ours to play hide-and-seek, or perhaps billiards this morning, then this afternoon they can sing, and maybe tableaux in the evening. Andreas is bringing them up from the hotel, so we’ll be a crowd; I’m sending the Robin to the nursery for the morning, I think!”

“Tableaux might be fun, although I’m not sure whether my younger ones could manage them. We’ll see what we can do. I haven’t much in the way of a dressing-up box, though.”

“I suppose not; come to think of it, I haven’t, either. I’ll have to let them use bedspreads and things – I think I’ll tell them that as long as they leave the salon alone, they can use more-or-less what they like.”

“I wonder how creative ours will be.... hmmmm, I’ll have to have a think.”

Juliet rang off and went into the Speisesaal where everyone was lingering over a late Frühstück. She clapped her hands for silence:

“I’m sorry girls, but the weather is just too bad for us to go out today. I know that’s really disappointing, but it can’t be helped. We’ll have some fun here, just us.”

“What shall we do, please?” asked Peggy Burnett as the chorus of groans subsided.

“Well, this morning we need to get the desks and chairs in from the verandah and get them set up properly in the form-rooms, and get the dormitories tidied and the beds in the right place. And then I thought this afternoon we might play some games, or, if you’d rather, we could do tableaux. They are going to do tableaux at Die Rosen this evening, I’m told.”

“Couldn’t we do charades?” asked Peggy

“Now that sounds like a very good idea. I wonder whether you can manage them by yourselves, or whether you will need Miss Cochrane and me to help?”

“Oh, I expect we can manage,” said Amy, still disappointed at not seeing her sister today, but quite glad not to have to go out in the snow. “If I take one team and Irma takes the other, that ought to work, yes?”

Miss Carrick agreed that this was a good idea, much to Miss Cochrane’s private relief. Although she had quite enjoyed charades during her time at the Chalet School, she knew she would find it difficult to help a team of small girls without doing it all for them.

After Frühstück was over, the girls helped “winter-proof” the Annexe, getting the beds into the correct places and, well wrapped up, bringing in the desks and chairs from the lower verandah into the form-rooms. The big beehive stoves were lit in the form-rooms and common-rooms, and the house became cosy and warm.

Amy and Irma chose their teams for the charades and each team went into a huddle in one of the form-rooms. By Kaffee und Kuchen both teams had decided what they were doing and had rehearsed and found props and costumes. Once the meal was over, they gathered in the largest form-room for the event.


	9. Chapter 9

Irma’s team was the first to go. Their first scene showed a schoolroom, with the girls wearing their school uniform, and Anne-Christine, who was the tallest of them, dressed as the teacher (Juliet had kindly lent her gown for the occasion). Little Cécile Le Brun was showing the teacher an exercise book, and the teacher was shaking her head vigorously over it. That ended the scene, and make-shift curtains were drawn across while Amy’s team speculated loudly on what the word could be.

The second scene also showed the schoolroom, this time with Anne-Christine writing on the blackboard: “La laine, le leçon, la Lorraine, Limoges, la lumière, ” and similar words beginning with the letter L.

There was a longish gap before the final scene, which turned out to be a Nativity scene. People’s dressing-gowns had been commandeered for robes – a blue one for the Virgin, of course – and various large cloths for headgear. Margaret’s big baby doll represented the infant Jesus. The word “Noel” was quickly guessed, and everybody clapped.

Now it was Amy’s team’s turn, and they went off to get ready while Irma’s team dressed themselves and came to sit down.

“Creative lot, aren’t they?” said Miss Cochrane.

“Yes, I thought that was excellent. I wonder what Amy’s crew will think of.”

“Amy is really blossoming this term; it’s been good for her being up here and out of Margia’s shadow, don’t you think?”

“Yes, I agree. She’s working hard, too. But hush, here come the others.”

The mistresses congratulated Irma’s team on a great charade, and they all settled down to see what Amy’s team could produce.

In the first scene Inge Erickson, dressed in her winter-sports trousers and blazer, obviously meant to be a man sitting at the mistress’ desk, which had been turned sideways, pretending to write something and periodically breaking off to rub her hands together and shiver. The door opened and Amy came in, similarly clad. Inge looked up and asked something, to which the reply was an evident expression of disgust .

That was the end of that scene, and the audience found they had very little idea of what it was meant to represent. The second scene proved even more baffling. Three beds had been laid out on the floor – the girls had not been able to carry their own beds downstairs (“Thankfully!” said Juliet, afterwards) but pillows and plumeaux were laid out as beds. Renée Lecoutier, Laurenz Maïco and Signa Johanssen came in dressed in their nightclothes, and then Peggy Burnett came in on all fours, covered in her bedroom rug, and began chivvying the other three towards their beds and trying to shake up the plumeaux by taking them in her teeth.

Again, nobody could quite think what they were trying to do, and then suddenly Grizel Cochrane said “Oh, I’ve got it!” and laughed, but refused to give any hints to the others, who were all baffled, including Miss Carrick.

For the final scene, the girls had got back into their velveteen frocks and Amy had gone to the piano, where she accompanied the whole team in singing “Yes, we have no bananas!” Miss Cochrane snorted at the popular song, but was pleased that she had guessed right – the word, of course, was “Banana”.

“I don’t get it!” complained Margaret.

“Well, the first bit was ‘Bah’, Scrooge going ‘Bah, humbug!’ about Christmas. Haven’t you read A CHRISTMAS CAROL?” asked Amy.

“No, not yet, but Madame said we might read it in English Literature next.”

“Oh, then you wouldn’t know, but Scrooge is the old man and Bob Cratchit, his clerk, asks if he can go home early because it’s Christmas, and he says, ‘Christmas? Bah, humbug!’”

“So he’s not very nice?”

“No, not very,”

“And what was the Nana bit, then?”

“That was Nana from PETER PAN. She is a big dog, and is their nursemaid.”

“What, a real dog?”

“No, it's played by a person, so you have a person playing a dog, always. Don't ask me why.... but Daddy took Margia and me to see the play last time we were in London, it’s topping!”

“It is a lovely play,” agreed Miss Carrick. “And it was a very clever charade. Well done, Amy!”

“Oh, it wasn’t all me! The Robin thought of the Scrooge bit, and Peggy thought of the song!”

There were no prizes, but there was a special supper, with apfelstrudel and cream for pudding, and everybody went happily to bed.


	10. Chapter 10

The next morning the blizzard was still raging, and they were again confined to the house. As they could not go to Church, they sat quietly in the common-room and Miss Carrick read to them from the Lives of the Saints for a little while, and the rest of the day passed quietly as their Sundays normally did, finishing with hymn-singing before bed.

But on Monday morning the storm had blown itself out, and the day was fine and clear. Miss Carrick was called to the telephone during Frühstück and came back smiling.

“Girls!” she announced, in her clear voice, “that was Madame on the telephone, and she has invited us all to go to Die Rosen and have a snow-fight!”

Exclamations of joy rose from all sides, and Miss Carrick had to clap her hands again for quiet. After breakfast, the girls wrapped up well and put on coloured glasses – nobody wanted any cases of snow-blindness – and walked the short distance to Die Rosen. When they passed the half-way tree, Amy suddenly said, “Oh dear, I suppose as everybody is there, you are still Miss Carrick and Miss Cochrane, aren’t you?”

“No, I don’t think so,” said Miss Carrick. “After all, it is the holidays, and almost everybody knows us as Juliet and Grizel, so I don’t think it will matter. If Madame objects, though, you must be formal, of course, but I don’t think she will.”

"Well, how do we arrange things?" demanded Grizel of the assembled company once they had arrived at Die Rosen.

Miss Wilson, who had come up with the school from Briesau, explained that she and Juliet would pick sides, with Miss Stewart being Juliet’s second, and Grizel her own.

Meanwhile the Robin, Peggy, Inga, Laurenz, Gredel, Margaret and Cecile were sent off to the back garden to have a smaller snowfight with Peggy and Rix Bettany, supervised by Miss Leslie and Gisela Mensch. They were rather disappointed at first, but cheered up when they were told they could help get refreshments ready for the rest once they’d had enough.

They had great fun, better, perhaps, than they had expected, but after half an hour Rix Bettany tripped over a hidden root and measured his length. Once the first shock was over, he was very brave, but was obviously developing a splendid black eye, and it was decided that this was probably enough for everybody. As people were beginning to get cold and tired, nobody was really sorry.

The girls retired to the kitchen and Peggy, Laurenz and the Robin had great fun making sandwiches – Miss Leslie cut the bread, and Frau Mensch sliced ham and cheese, while the girls assembled the result into sandwiches. The younger members of the party were filling platesful of the small cakes that Marie, the cook, had spent the morning baking, while trying to fend off Rix, who had recovered his equilibrium and thought he wanted a cake for his trouble!

Finally, the others had had enough, and came in. The Robin was asked to show the staff members to Madame’s bedroom to make themselves tidy, which she duly did, and then everybody sat down to enjoy their refreshments, the younger ones making themselves useful by passing plates and cups and so on.

After this, Amy, Renée Lecoutier, Marie-Pierre and Anne-Christine joined the rest on a walk to the end of the alm which they all thoroughly enjoyed. Down at the foot of the mountain lay the lake, coated with thin ice which turned it black in its rim of white snow. The villages and hamlets scattered about its shores had the appearance of toys dropped by the hands of giants. Round them rose the mountains, grander than ever in their winter garb with only the blackness of the pine forest on their winter slopes to contrast with the purity of the snow. Above, the sky lay grey and wintry, for the pale November sunshine of the morning had vanished shortly after midday, and the girls had no need of snow-glasses now.

And it was the same the whole way along the alm. Wonderful views opened out to them; and in the south, they could see the Zillerthal Alps, white beneath their crown of snow.

“You are lucky,” said Margia Stephens, Amy’s elder sister. “I suppose you get to see this view almost every day.”

“Not really,” said Amy. “Usually there isn’t time to come so far; we just walk round the San and back. Oh, we’ve come here fairly often, but usually only on Saturdays when there’s more time. I wish we could come every day!”

People went back to wherever they were staying for Kaffee und Kuchen at 16:00, and then everybody went back to Die Rosen for dancing and games. And the next day, the Chalet people went back down to Briesau, the Robin returned to the Annexe, and school started again.


	11. Chapter 11

The next couple of weeks passed quietly, with nothing startling happening, notwithstanding such minor mishaps as Cécile le Brun’s getting up for a drink of water in the middle of the night and totally forgetting she wasn’t now sleeping on the balcony and crashing into Margaret Browne’s bed, waking her entire dormitory. Lessons and playtimes passed off quietly, and everybody worked well.

But, unbeknownst to the girls, there was a fair amount of plotting and planning going on behind the scenes. It was already a tradition that each Christmas, the school put on a Nativity Play of some kind to entertain the villagers, and such parents, friends and Old Girls as cared to attend. Madge Russell had always written the play, and this year, rather more ambitiously, had contrived a Pageant. She was anxious that the Annexe continued to feel itself a part of the Chalet School, despite being several miles away as the crow flew, and even further by road, and she was keen that the Annexe girls took part in the Pageant. Quite apart from anything else, she wanted the Robin, arguably the prettiest of the younger children, to play the Spirit of Love, and several others were wanted to play baby angels, cherubim and so on. So Madame, the Annexe Staff, and Mademoiselle LePâttre, who was Headmistress of the Chalet, put their heads together and many and long were the telephone conversations between the three locations, and meetings at Die Rosen, until it was agreed that the Annexe should return to the main school, and be integrated with it, for the last fortnight of term.

This, of course, led to the vexed question of logistics. It was bitterly cold, although dry and clear, and the coach road was liable to be too slippery for charabancs. They couldn’t go by the mountain path, either, as, quite apart from the fact that it was really too far for most of the girls to walk, they would have their school supplies and their own personal belongings to transport, since they would be going home from Briesau, although those who lived at Die Rosen would, of course, be returning there. Juliet, however, was planning a trip to London to visit her fiancé, Donal o’Hara.

While they were still working all this out, one phone call set Juliet and Grizel reminiscing about old times. During a science lesson, Evadne Lannis, who had been having a bad day, had contrived to blow up the entire laboratory, and then two days later, Thekla von Stift had set herself on fire during a party the girls had given for the Staff. Jo Bettany had distinguished herself by forgetting all that she had been taught about first-aid, and throwing an entire tub of water over the victim.

“I do wish I’d been there to see it,” said Grizel, reminiscently. “I don’t know this Thekla, of course, although from what Bill says she’s a right character. But Joey... oh dear, I should have loved to have seen her throwing the water.”

“And as for Evvy – there’s never a dull moment when she’s around. Do you remember when we went to Salzburg and the hotel caught fire?”

“That was scarcely Evvy’s fault, though! Just unfortunate that the hotel caught fire when we were there. That’s when I had my hair bobbed, of course – it had all burnt off. But it saved me from burning my face.”

“And that awful Frau Berlin getting stuck on the fire-escape! All the same,” said Juliet, suddenly becoming the complete Headmistress, “I am going to tell Madame that I can’t let the girls have science up here, not more than the Nature Study they already do. Not while I’m Head, anyway. I simply can’t take the responsibility!”

“Well, that mightn’t be for much longer,” laughed Grizel, looking at the big diamond ring Juliet sported on her left hand.

Juliet blushed. “No, Donal and I aren’t going to get married for at least another three years, you know that! All the same, roll on Christmas.”

Finally, it was agreed that the Annexe should be transported in mule-drawn sledges. They would go down the coach-road to Wiesing, then by train to Spärtz, where more sledges would meet them and take them up to Briesau. At the end of term, the Die Rosen party would go back the same way.

The girls were extremely excited when they learnt of these plans. To go to the main school again! To travel by mule-sledge! This was going to be an end-of-term to remember!

On the Saturday morning, they all piled into the sledges, and all of them enjoyed the trip in the clear, crisp air with the sleigh-bells ringing. They were in good time to catch the train at Wiesing for the short trip to Spärtz. At Spärtz, they were met by no less a person than Herr Anserl, who insisted they go to his house for Kaffee und Kuchen before heading up the mountain again. The girls all enjoyed the brief visit to his home, where his housekeeper had laid on delicious cakes and tarts for them. The Robin suggested that the mule-drivers, who were waiting patiently for them in the cold, ought to have some, and the others agreed, so they took a selection out to them before they set off again.

And then they were off, up the mountainside, getting more and more excited as they approached the end of their journey. The sledges could go no further than Seespitz, as the road was too narrow, so the mules were unhitched and loaded with baggage and the girls walked – or, in the case of the Robin, Renée Lecoutier and one or two others, ran on ahead. Juliet and Grizel decided that enforcing a proper crocodile would probably, for once, be more trouble than it was worth!

The Robin, breathless and over-excited, shamed herself by bursting into tears when she saw not only her beloved Chalet School but her even more beloved Joey waiting for her. The other “old girls” were not far behind, and, over the next few days, had a wonderful time settling back into their old forms. Those who had not been to school before found that working in a class setting was very different to working in the small groups that they were used to, but the others more than made up for this, and the prefects complained that prep was no longer a time of peace!

Afternoon lessons and other activities were suspended for the duration, and the time was devoted to rehearsals. Those who had no speaking or crowd parts were wanted to sing, or to be stage-hands, and everybody was involved, one way and another.

The dress rehearsal was not the greatest ever, but the local people who came to watch were not fussy, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The staff, however, were in despair but decided there was nothing more they could do, and made everybody forget about it for the evening and set them to dancing.

The performance next day, however, was very successful. Nobody dried, nobody forgot their places, everybody came in at the right moment and all the carols were sung to Mr Denny’s exacting standards.

Afterwards, Frieda Mensch’s father said what a good sermon the children had preached to them; his daughter commented that it was really Madame who had done so, they were just the repeaters of it.

"And now I know why we give gifts at Christmas," said the Robin. "It is because God gave us the greatest Gift first."

Two or three days later, Joey Bettany and Grizel Cochrane were sitting in Grizel’s bedroom one evening at Die Rosen, not long before bedtime.

“So tell me, Grizel, how do you like teaching?” asked Joey.

“About as much as you would, I dare say,” said Grizel, drily.

“It’s that bad?” Joey was concerned for her friend. “Are you really unhappy, Griselda – I’m sure my sister would understand – she knows not everybody wants to teach.”

“It’s a very great deal better than the alternative, which is going home to live with my father and stepmother. No, Joey, I’m not a born teacher, not like Juliet or your sister, but I can live with it, and I’ll never forget what I owe to you, to Madame and to the Chalet School. If I can give just a little of it back by teaching here for a few years, then I shall do so with all my heart.”


End file.
